High School Musical [ENHANCED] [EXTRA TRACKS] [SOUNDTRACK] [SPECIAL EDITION]

Various Composers (Artist), Zac Efron (Artist), Vanessa Anne Hudgens (Artist), Ashley Tisdale (Artist), Lucas Grabeel (Artist), High School Musical Cast (Artist), B5 (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 23, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Enhanced, Extra tracks, Soundtrack, Special Edition
• Label: Walt Disney Records
• ASIN: B000F8DT5A
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #770 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #3 in	Music > Soundtracks > Television Soundtracks
  #8 in	Music > Pop > Teen Pop
  #16 in	Music > Soundtracks > Movie Scores

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Disney has struck platinum with High School Musical, a made-for-cable movie that was mega-popular on the Disney Channel before spawning a mega-popular soundtrack. Echoing Grease, the plot involves two students (Zac Efron and Vanessa Anne Hutchinson) who fall for each other while on vacation, only to realize they go to the same high school—though they belong to different cliques. Fortunately they both love singing! The songs are typical Disney pop: on the bland side but also very well-crafted, they stick to your head like strawberry-flavored gum. Among the standouts are "Get'cha Head in the Game," which incorporates noises from a basketball game (squeaking sneakers, bouncing balls, whistles) to great effect; the fab tribute to 1970s piano-pop "What I've Been Looking For"; and the old-school show-tuney "Stick to the Status Quo." The music falters when it tries to go "caliente suave" (a la Gloria Estefan's substandard "Bop to the Top") but overall this CD could get kids to bounce and sing along nicely. Bonus tracks include a reprise of "Get'cha Head in the Game" by R&B group B5 and, fittingly, karaoke versions of the hits "Start of Something New" and "Breaking Free." --Elisabeth Vincentelli

NOTE: This two-disc edition of the soundtrack includes the original album on the first disc plus karaoke versions of "Start of Something New," "Get'cha Head in the Game," "What I've Been Looking For," "When There Was Me and You," "Bop to the Top," "Breaking Free," "We're All in This Together," and "I Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" on the second CD+G disc. Also included are a music video for B5's version of "Get'cha Head in the Game" and a foldout locker poster.

Product Description
While on a family New Year's vacation, shy brainiac Gabriella meets high-school basketball star Troy. During a karaoke contest at the teen party, they discover their love for singing... and an interest in each other. But will they be able to break out of their "expected" cliques and discover new interests and talents within themselves? Find out... in High School Musical! Starring Ashley Tisdale from Disney Channel's original TV series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Zac Efron from the WB's Summerland. Soundtrack features all-new music performed by the cast of the movie plus a bonus track by one of today's hottest teen R&B music groups, B5! CD also includes two instrumental tracks for karaoke fun!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Waddya know? A charming Disney film for kids and their unwitting parents, June 7, 2006

By	David Pearlman "sound fanatic" (Arlington, MA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

As a 40-something adult, this is the kind of movie that would usually send me running from the room. Of course, things change if you have a target-aged young daughter who comes home and tells you that her friends told her this movie is a MUST WATCH!! All right, so with much trepidation I agreed to sit and watch this with my daughter.

And what do you know? It turns out to be charming. No, there are no surprises here (except maybe that it IS charming and not just treacly pap, as are so many for-kids morality movies). Someone had the clever idea of making a musical for kids--a series of music videos tethered by a thin plot, really--and it works. I have to admit that I was fully won over when the basketball practice turned into a music number (Get'cha Head in the Game), with the stock sounds of basketball (squeeky shoes, etc.) cleverly mixed into the song.

There are a number of pretty good songs/videos in the movie, though my favorite is the Breaking Free duet that basically serves as the climax.

Much has been made about the question of whether the actors who sing these songs are really all that musically talented. It's hard to say without seeing them perform live, but most of these songs have clearly been enhanced by an autotuner, which suggests these may be actors with very modest singing ability (typical of the modern Disney stable, think Hilary Duff, Christy Carlson Romano, etc.) rather than singers who can also act.

But who cares? The songs are catchy and worthwhile within the context of the film and they sound fine and in-tune and catchy on the soundtrack album. I don't expect that these actors will be taking the production on the road anytime soon, so it really is irrelevant what studio trickery might have been used to get the songs to their final state. This album is a fine sourvenir of the movie, and is eminently listenable (and often a lot more than that).

This "deluxe" version of the original soundtrack (which is still available in the non-deluxe version at a lower list price) includes a second disc with CD+Graphics karaoke versions of most of the songs on the soundtrack (missing are the What I'm Looking For reprise and Stick to the Status Quo), plus a relatively worthless Disney tie-in video promoting their latest faceless lollipop group (B5) performing Get'Cha Head in the Game, and a little foldout "poster". If your kids (or you) are are into karaoke, this deluxe version is probably worth the extra bucks. Otherwise, there's not much added value. (The original version features the same karaoke instrumentals for Start of Something New and Breaking Free, but they are not CD+graphics encoded, which means the lyrics won't appear on your video-compatible karaoke player).

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Music, July 2, 2006

By	R. M. Garcia "Ritzeg" (Las Vegas, NM USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I finally found something that both my granddaughter and I can enjoy listening and dancing to together. Praise the Lord I don't need to keep telling her to turn it down, because it doesn't drive me crazy like some of her other music she and her mother listen to.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not my choice if you're looking for a karaoke cd, March 28, 2007

By	third time mom (Naperville, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This version of hsm is a two disc set. The first is a "regular" cd of the hsm soundtrack. The second is a "bonus" karaoke disc. I give the regular disc gets 5 stars but the karaoke disc gets about 2 stars. Why? Well, it only has instrumentals. Most CD+G discs out there (certainly ones meant for kids) have, say, the first 8 tracks instrumental and the next 8 tracks with vocals. My kids (and most others I know) prefer to sing along with the artist. So if you're just looking for a HSM cd, buy this one. If what you really want is a good karaoke cd, buy the Disney karaoke series cd (red and yellow cover, must say cd+g).